A Fly in the Ointment

This is St Mary’s, a quintessentially English church just twelve miles from my front door. What makes it so English?

Numbers

The fourth book in the Old Testament is the Book of Numbers, sandwiched between Leviticus and Deuteronomy. As we seek the Promised Land outside the EU, Numbers has a chilling resonance: the first generation of Israelites are condemned to wander in the wilderness for forty years, the second generation are led to Canaan.

Death in the Afternoon

I really don’t recommend DitA, a cocktail invented by Hemingway. If you have a death wish here’s how to make it, in his own words: “Pour one jigger absinthe into a Champagne glass. Add iced Champagne until it attains the proper opalescent milkiness. Drink three to five of these slowly.”

Tapestry & Tide

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: every time I go on a familiar walk I see something new. Friday should have been an exception as I was with two friends and the chat level was dangerously high, as is the case when W is around.

Published
Categorised as History

145 Hammersmith Road

I often walk past this building on the corner of Hammersmith Road and Edith Road and thought it very shabby. Now it’s had a lick of paint and now I know its story, thanks to this website and Peter Bird.

Thames Talk

Yesterday I walked a short stretch (4 miles) of the Thames Path for the first time. I took the tube to Canary Wharf and felt as if I’d landed in a N American city.

From Riyadh to Rehab

Fourteen years ago in Riyadh, in June 2004, BBC reporter Frank Gardner was shot eleven times. The cameraman with him, Simon Cumbers, was killed but Frank survived.

Published
Categorised as Literature

Match Point

The EU Withdrawal Bill is proving a contentious piece of legislation. The Peers are flexing their pecs, making amendments to give the Commons a greater say on the outcome of the negotiations with the EU. The Bill shuttles between the two Chambers in a process known as Parliamentary ping-pong.

Wind in the Willows

This fine willow tree is beside the north bank of the Thames at Fulham Reach. In the plans approved for the new blocks of flats in this Conservation Area the tree was to be retained but the developer has had a change of heart.

Red Notice

In 1969 I saw a film I have never forgotten, Z. It was the first film I’d seen that had a serious political message. It is about the assassination of a left wing Greek politician in 1963 by his right wing opponents and the government cover-up that ensued. The film is based on a book… Continue reading Red Notice